At Midnight's Cry

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter or any aspect of the Harry Potter universe, those rights are uniquely reserved by the brilliant J.K. Rowling, her publishers (Scholastic, etc.), and Warner Brothers. No copyright infringement is intended in this work. Also, this story may be place on fanfiction.net as well under my pen name Alex Thompson to draw attention to my work via other outlets.

Chapter 1

“HAHAHAHA!!!”

Harry awoke, flustered to the hysterical laughing of Dudley Dursley, interrupting a rather welcome dream of a slightly erotic nature. This had been the first night in many months “the nightmare” had not occurred. This particular dream was a great reprieve from the torment of many nights passed, and until he was startled awake had been keen to see the dream continue.

“Who –hahaha- is Hermione?” asked Dudley through his continued eccentric laughing fit.

“Sod off Dudley!”

Dudley quickly composed himself at Harry’s snide remark, “From the noises you were making it seems she is a freak in more ways than one!” Dudley shot back, emphasizing the dual meanings of the word usually only reserved for members of the wizarding community.

“You best get out or I’ll give you that tail you loved so much!” Harry fired, brandishing his wand as if to accentuate the seriousness of the situation.

At these words, Dudley became quiet and started to back away.

“You can’t do magic here! You aren’t allowed and dad would kill you!” Dudley said with a quiver of fear, not truly comforted by his own words.

“Hate to break it to you Duddykins, but of age wizards can do magic outside of school. And as of midnight, I am of age!” Harry stated mater-of-factly with a smirk of victory on his face.

Dudley did not wait around to retort, but immediately ran from the room screaming, “DAD!!! HE IS DOING IT AGAIN!!!”

Vernon Dursley quickly appeared in the doorway, his face purple and chest heaving from the ten foot run from his own bedroom.

“I have warned you before boy! No more funny business! I will not tolerate this anymore! Pack your things, you are no longer living under this roof!” Vernon barked with an unusual ferocious look in his eye.

Harry, gripping the reality of the situation, quickly began throwing all of his possessions into his Hogwarts trunk. He had never seen his uncle so angry and knew he meant business.

* * * * *

With all of his worldly possessions packed away in his trunk, Harry walked down Privet Drive, dragging the oversized trunk behind him. As he reached the end of the street, he turned to gaze at the place he had lived for sixteen years, reality had finally greeted him. Although he was never treated well and had dreaded the days of summer when he was forced to reside in the small home, Harry realized this was it. He was never going to be coming home again.

Little did Harry know that as he spoke these words, the enchantments of Privet Drive broke, never to offer their protection to Harry or the inhabitants of number four again…